The charts below show recent movements in international benchmark prices relevant to the price of petrol and diesel in Australia. These market prices include the Singapore price of petrol (MOPS95 Petrol) and diesel (Gasoil 10ppm sulfur) and the market prices for Tapis and Dated Brent Crude Oil.

Australia's local oil refineries constantly compete with imported petroleum products from large highly efficient refineries in Asia, regardless of the cost of importing and refining crude oil. Consequently, the price of petrol at Australian refineries is based on international petrol prices. If local prices were higher than international prices, imports of petrol would displace local production.

The above charts show the market prices for unleaded petrol, diesel and crude oil. Crude oil, diesel and petrol prices are closely linked, as the price of crude oil accounts for the vast majority of the cost of producing a litre of petrol or diesel. Crude oil is purchased in US dollars, meaning that changes in the value of the Australian dollar against the US dollar have a direct impact on the relative price of crude oil in Australian dollar terms. Therefore, changes in the Australian dollar/US dollar exchange rate must be taken into account when looking at movements in crude oil prices.

General Note:

AIP publishes the Platts crude oil and product quotes for the purpose of price transparency and to assist in demonstrating that the movements in product prices follow the medium term movements in crude oil prices. The Platts Tapis and Dated Brent quotes were chosen as representative regional crude oil price markers which are quoted daily. By utilising the Platts crude oil and product quotes, AIP does not intend to reflect the actual purchase prices of product or crude oil by individual AIP member companies. Consequently, appropriate care should be exercised when using this data to infer financial performance of individual companies.

Note 1:

The Petrol, Diesel and Crude Oil prices are provided by S&P Global, Platts, and represent the end of day assessment for the prices of these commodities. From 1 January 2009, the diesel price marker is 10ppm sulfur diesel, consistent with changes to Australian fuel standards.

Note 2:

Brent blend is a light (low density) and sweet (low sulphur) crude oil which is suitable for production of gasoline and middle distillates like diesel and jet fuel. According to Platts "The Dated Brent market, which Platts assesses on a 7-15 day forward basis, generates prices which have become a key benchmark for contract pricing of crude oil worldwide. Dated Brent is used in spot and long-term contracts to value as much as 60% of the 85 million barrels of crude oil worldwide". Crude oil production from Europe, Africa and the Middle East tends to be priced relative to Brent, and crude oil from some of these regions is a significant (and increasing) source of crude for the Asia-Pacific market. According to Platts, "nearly 40% of Asia's petroleum consumption, or about 8 million barrels per day, is currently linked to Dated Brent or Brent proxies" and Australia's crude fields such as Vincent, Stybarrow, Enfield, Pyrenees and Van Gogh have in the past two years become priced off Dated Brent assessments, instead of Minas and Duri which would have been the expected benchmarks historically. Caltex Australia has also indicated in public statements a shift to Dated Brent crude pricing. For information on crude oil pricing and Dated Brent pricing in Asia see http://www.aip.com.au/pricing/crude.htm and the 2011 ACCC Formal Price Monitoring Report (page 60) at http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1020827.